Man v. Food, Eh? Canada's Greatest Eating Challenges: Part 2
Filed under: Food & Drink, Travel
Adam Richman calls himself a food fanatic during the introduction to his Travel Channel show Man V. Food, but evidently he's not fanatical enough to visit Canada more than once. Sure, he has tackled six-pound milkshakes, a bucket of 50 buffalo wings, all-you-can-eat oysters, a seven-pound seafood platter and many other crazy consumables over the three seasons of the show. But, as Part One of Canada's Greatest Eating Challenges hopefully revealed, Canada has some fearsome foods that can challenge most men and women with iron stomachs.
In part two, WalletPop is taking it up a notch. We'll show you the biggest burger and steak in the country and once again interview those culinary masters who put the crazy in their cooking. They'll tell you how these challenges ended up on their menu, whether they've ever tried them and their favourite legendary attempts. We hope you're hungry because you can try all of these yourself, so stretch your stomach, grab yourself a seat and place your order... Oh, and you better hurry up because there's a definite time limit if you want your meal for free.
'The Record Breaker Challenge'
The Adversary: 106 oz. Steak in 32 minutes (or less)
Where to Slay it: The Texas Longhorn Cafe -- Mississauga, ON.
Tale of the Tape: Truth be told, there are a lot of steak challenges in Canada. They start small with Real Sports Bar & Grill's 67 oz. 'Hail Mary' ( meant to symbolize the last time The Maple Leafs won The Stanley Cup) and go up to the median steak that seems to appear most frequently as a challenge on Canadian menus at 72 ouunces. This one can be found in the east as part of the Lone Star Texas Grill chain of restaurants and in the west at Q Steakhouse in Abbotsford, B.C. as part of their 'Hungry Man Challenge.' Perhaps most disheartening was the discovery that Alberta -- often touting the strength of their Alberta beef -- does not offer the largest steak in the country. In fact, the rumours of an 80 oz. steak at Calgary's Graze Grill proved to be false and Ranchman's Cook House & Dance Hall gave up and removed their 72 oz. creation from their menu.
Thankfully, 72 oz. is just a starting point at The Texas Longhorn. Way back at the beginning in 1987, if you could eat a 72 oz. steak at Longhorn, it was free. "It just grew from there," says owner Richard Figueiredo. "Texas Longhorn use to do 'The Big Meat Eat' where the top five people that eat the most meat over a 90-day period would compete to see who was the ultimate meat eater. At that time, the championship meant an astounding 102 oz. -- then, someone called up a couple years ago and declared that they could beat it. "They did too, and that's where the record stands, 106 oz. in 32 minutes. It wasn't a big guy either, maybe 150 or 160 lbs," confirms Figueiredo.
He will also tell you that the next person who tries to beat it will have an extremely tall order ahead of them. "I can't do it. I get full at 12 oz," insists Figueiredo. Though it has been a few years since anyone has tried to climb the mountain and beat the record, he also assures that it will be on the menu for many years to come. "We order our steaks fresh in 100 oz. increments, so whatever the ounces a customer is comfortable with, we just cut it off -- it's not like it's a waste because at over 100 oz. we charge by the ounce and the customer tells us when to stop."
But he's ready and waiting for the day when someone tells him to keep going and is forever immortalized on a plaque hanging from The Longhorn wall.
'The Flat Line'
The Adversary: Double burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches in place of buns
Where to Slay it: The Hog Shack Cook House -- Richmond, B.C.
Tale of the Tape: Formerly Correlli's, an Italian staple in the Steveston area of the city, The Hog Shack Cook House was 2010's new kid on the block and owner John Lim Hing knew he needed to make a big splash. "We needed to create a buzz on the menu, something the people would talk about." Enter, The Flat Line. Some may already know of The Angry French Canadian, the self-proclaimed greasiest sandwich in Canada, but The Flat Line is the greasiest sandwich available to the Canadian masses, bar none.
No doubt inspired by the grilled cheese burgers that have recently been appearing on menus all over the U.S., in which a burger patty with toppings is wedged between two grilled cheese sandwiches, Lim Hing's own twist was to upgrade from a single patty to two 6 oz. patties with cheese between each. One can choose any burger condiments or toppings they want, but Lim Hing has so far shied away from bacon for the noblest of reasons: "I just don't want to kill anyone," he jokes.
To complete the challenge, diners must finish the sandwich in five minutes or less. More than a dozen people have tried it and, as of this article, three people have won, which gives them bragging rights on the restaurant's Facebook and Twitter pages and gives them the right to forgo the $18.00 price tag. However, Lim Hing isn't done with them yet. "At the end of the year, on Canada Day, we're going to phone them all up and have them eat it again to crown the ultimate Flat Line champion's champion." Oh, and by the way, if you thought separating the grilled cheeses from the burger and eating them one at a time would get you to the winner's circle -- think again. "One Japanese man tried it that way and he couldn't finish it," says Lim Hing, who playfully mocked the competitor because he couldn't live up to the legacy of his countryman, eating champion Takeru Kobayashi.
'The Biggest Burger in Canada'
The Adversary: 9 lb. Hamburger
Where to Slay It: Blondie's Restaurant -- Winnipeg, Manitoba
Tale of the Tape: Right off the bat, owner Sandy Doyle wants to make something clear: "The burger's actually 12 lbs when you put it all together -- 9 lbs. of solid meat." Oh, and that's 9 lbs with any toppings you want. It's so big you have to eat it like a gargantuan layer cake and so far, out of 25 attempts, nobody has finished it. Had they finished it in two and a half hours, it would've been on the house and they'd be immortalized in a photo on the wall with everyone who has ever attempted it. "We had four people share it just last week and they couldn't finish it," says Doyle.
Still, the mondo meat wad continues to be a huge hit with Blondie's customers. "Everyone thought it was a joke at first," Doyle continues, "But honestly, I was just bored and wanted to see how big a patty I could flip before it would break." Fifteen years later and it's still on the menu. She may not be offering $1,000 to eat it, like Bubi's Awesome Eats does with their 'Bunda's Big V8 in Windsor, but Doyle's offering an extra pound of beef and she stresses that it's made with only fresh ingredients. "Everything is freshly made except the onion rings. We sell real food here and everything is from scratch. Nothing is pre-formed and there are no additives."
Still hungry for more? Check out part one of Man v. Food, Eh? Canada's Greatest Eating Challenges.
Related Posts:
In part two, WalletPop is taking it up a notch. We'll show you the biggest burger and steak in the country and once again interview those culinary masters who put the crazy in their cooking. They'll tell you how these challenges ended up on their menu, whether they've ever tried them and their favourite legendary attempts. We hope you're hungry because you can try all of these yourself, so stretch your stomach, grab yourself a seat and place your order... Oh, and you better hurry up because there's a definite time limit if you want your meal for free.
'The Record Breaker Challenge'
The Adversary: 106 oz. Steak in 32 minutes (or less)
Where to Slay it: The Texas Longhorn Cafe -- Mississauga, ON.
Tale of the Tape: Truth be told, there are a lot of steak challenges in Canada. They start small with Real Sports Bar & Grill's 67 oz. 'Hail Mary' ( meant to symbolize the last time The Maple Leafs won The Stanley Cup) and go up to the median steak that seems to appear most frequently as a challenge on Canadian menus at 72 ouunces. This one can be found in the east as part of the Lone Star Texas Grill chain of restaurants and in the west at Q Steakhouse in Abbotsford, B.C. as part of their 'Hungry Man Challenge.' Perhaps most disheartening was the discovery that Alberta -- often touting the strength of their Alberta beef -- does not offer the largest steak in the country. In fact, the rumours of an 80 oz. steak at Calgary's Graze Grill proved to be false and Ranchman's Cook House & Dance Hall gave up and removed their 72 oz. creation from their menu.
Thankfully, 72 oz. is just a starting point at The Texas Longhorn. Way back at the beginning in 1987, if you could eat a 72 oz. steak at Longhorn, it was free. "It just grew from there," says owner Richard Figueiredo. "Texas Longhorn use to do 'The Big Meat Eat' where the top five people that eat the most meat over a 90-day period would compete to see who was the ultimate meat eater. At that time, the championship meant an astounding 102 oz. -- then, someone called up a couple years ago and declared that they could beat it. "They did too, and that's where the record stands, 106 oz. in 32 minutes. It wasn't a big guy either, maybe 150 or 160 lbs," confirms Figueiredo.
He will also tell you that the next person who tries to beat it will have an extremely tall order ahead of them. "I can't do it. I get full at 12 oz," insists Figueiredo. Though it has been a few years since anyone has tried to climb the mountain and beat the record, he also assures that it will be on the menu for many years to come. "We order our steaks fresh in 100 oz. increments, so whatever the ounces a customer is comfortable with, we just cut it off -- it's not like it's a waste because at over 100 oz. we charge by the ounce and the customer tells us when to stop."
But he's ready and waiting for the day when someone tells him to keep going and is forever immortalized on a plaque hanging from The Longhorn wall.
'The Flat Line'
The Adversary: Double burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches in place of buns
Where to Slay it: The Hog Shack Cook House -- Richmond, B.C.
Tale of the Tape: Formerly Correlli's, an Italian staple in the Steveston area of the city, The Hog Shack Cook House was 2010's new kid on the block and owner John Lim Hing knew he needed to make a big splash. "We needed to create a buzz on the menu, something the people would talk about." Enter, The Flat Line. Some may already know of The Angry French Canadian, the self-proclaimed greasiest sandwich in Canada, but The Flat Line is the greasiest sandwich available to the Canadian masses, bar none.
No doubt inspired by the grilled cheese burgers that have recently been appearing on menus all over the U.S., in which a burger patty with toppings is wedged between two grilled cheese sandwiches, Lim Hing's own twist was to upgrade from a single patty to two 6 oz. patties with cheese between each. One can choose any burger condiments or toppings they want, but Lim Hing has so far shied away from bacon for the noblest of reasons: "I just don't want to kill anyone," he jokes.
To complete the challenge, diners must finish the sandwich in five minutes or less. More than a dozen people have tried it and, as of this article, three people have won, which gives them bragging rights on the restaurant's Facebook and Twitter pages and gives them the right to forgo the $18.00 price tag. However, Lim Hing isn't done with them yet. "At the end of the year, on Canada Day, we're going to phone them all up and have them eat it again to crown the ultimate Flat Line champion's champion." Oh, and by the way, if you thought separating the grilled cheeses from the burger and eating them one at a time would get you to the winner's circle -- think again. "One Japanese man tried it that way and he couldn't finish it," says Lim Hing, who playfully mocked the competitor because he couldn't live up to the legacy of his countryman, eating champion Takeru Kobayashi.
'The Biggest Burger in Canada'The Adversary: 9 lb. Hamburger
Where to Slay It: Blondie's Restaurant -- Winnipeg, Manitoba
Tale of the Tape: Right off the bat, owner Sandy Doyle wants to make something clear: "The burger's actually 12 lbs when you put it all together -- 9 lbs. of solid meat." Oh, and that's 9 lbs with any toppings you want. It's so big you have to eat it like a gargantuan layer cake and so far, out of 25 attempts, nobody has finished it. Had they finished it in two and a half hours, it would've been on the house and they'd be immortalized in a photo on the wall with everyone who has ever attempted it. "We had four people share it just last week and they couldn't finish it," says Doyle.
Still, the mondo meat wad continues to be a huge hit with Blondie's customers. "Everyone thought it was a joke at first," Doyle continues, "But honestly, I was just bored and wanted to see how big a patty I could flip before it would break." Fifteen years later and it's still on the menu. She may not be offering $1,000 to eat it, like Bubi's Awesome Eats does with their 'Bunda's Big V8 in Windsor, but Doyle's offering an extra pound of beef and she stresses that it's made with only fresh ingredients. "Everything is freshly made except the onion rings. We sell real food here and everything is from scratch. Nothing is pre-formed and there are no additives."
Still hungry for more? Check out part one of Man v. Food, Eh? Canada's Greatest Eating Challenges.
Related Posts:
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